Rob Studdert mused: > > Volume increases should translate to lower cost in software as well as > hardware, the cost ratio of software to hardware has become absurd.
I'd suggest that the cost of software *has* decreased. Unfortunately the complexity of software has increased significantly faster. Any idea how much Linux would cost if it was actually on a commercial basis? Look how large Linux is, compared to MS/DOS, CP/M, or even to commercial operating systems such as early versions of Unix. Then look at the size of open-source projects that try and do what PhotoShop (to continue using that example) is doing. Image Magick, Graphics Magick, and the Gimp have had a lot of development effort invested, but they still don't come close to what PhotoShop can do. Even if you add in some of the popular shareware (VueScan, say, and one of the thumbnail cataloguing programs) you're still a long way behind full PhotoShop. If you don't need all the capabilities of PhotoShop (and probably most people on this list don't) then the $99 LE/Elements versions should fill the bill. It's hard to argue that they are overpriced for what they do (they may be cheaper than equivalent shareware).
